


Poor Souls

by BritishParty



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: F/M, kind of sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 02:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2756852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BritishParty/pseuds/BritishParty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lately, Nano's been fighting a battle of control against Mother - but if Lalna gets dragged in, his pride and arrogance could bring despair on them both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Poor Souls

A tormented scream ripped itself from Nano's lips, her tiny frame shuddering. She sank to the ground, shakily wrapped her arms around herself, and waited.  
Purple shapes flitted between her thoughts, not quite clear but not exactly blurry. They watched her with kindly faces, reached for her with welcoming hands, murmured to her in the whispers of a gentle song.  
"Nano?" The name spilled from his lips, and a pair of warm arms encircled her, purple hands joining behind her back to hug her tightly.  
"Lalna, have I always been like this?" Nano met his green eyes steadily, her expression blank.  
"Like what?" He chuckled softly, pressing close to her, tilting his head down to meet her gaze.  
"So cruel," she said quietly.  
"No," he said determinedly, "no, you're not cruel. You never have been."  
"But there's so much hate," came her whispered words. "So much hate."  
Nano shoved him away abruptly, pulling her knees closer to her chest. She covered her ears with her purple hands, eyes screwed shut against whatever was in her head.  
Gently Lalna picked her up, cradling her against his chest as he awkwardly made his way up to the top floor from the basement, decorated by jars. He set her down in her bed, murmuring comforts to her.  
Nano didn't hear him. She hunched over further, biting down on her lip as her face contorted in pain. Her hands were still clapped tightly over her ears, her eyes still shut against the enemies in her head.  
She'd been like this since Lalna had gotten fluxed, too - since it had gotten worse on them both. It happened in random spells; when she cooked, when she gardened, when she went to sleep. Lalna would find her, curled up, silently mouthing charms against evils he couldn't fight.  
"It's okay," he would say. He'd take Nano up to their bedroom, and he'd sit with her on her bed, and he'd hug her until they fell asleep.  
She always woke up eventually, though it was that eventually that worried him so terribly. Sometimes she'd be confused, scared, staring at him wildly for the split second before she sank into his arms.  
It was only a moment of panic, but it felt like an age. There was a deadweight in Lalna's stomach, a flutter of panic, as he wondered if it was different this time, if the flux had taken her, if she was gone.  
And he was always unspeakably relieved when she woke up, and curled against him, and cried her own tears, and forgot the shadows in her mind.  
Lalna glanced over at her now. It had been nearly a week since the last spell, and he was trying to keep himself from hoping that it was over now, that she was better. He'd given her the simple task of making lunch, but he'd found a small project to occupy his hands so he could watch over her.  
Nano had just begun to hum a small, familiar tune when it began.  
The screaming was the worst part. Lalna heard it tearing into a part of him, ripping at his soul; an awful, heart-shattering sound.  
"Nano!" He cried out, reaching for her as the circuitry in his fingers clattered to the ground.  
But when he looked at her, he could see it wasn't her. She was watching him, horrified, the knife still in her grasp, her eyes wide.  
"Lalna," she gasped. "No, no… Lalna! Lalna, can you hea…"  
Her words trailed off as the screams returned, shattering the serenity of their home. Lalna felt something flit into his mind; a dark shape, watching, smiling so welcomingly.  
"Mother!" He cried aloud, part despair, part hope.  
The dark figure disappeared as reality came leering back into focus. Nano was clutching at him, yelling something, tears forming in her eyes as she helplessly shook him.  
Suddenly, a pretty song cut across the screams. It was a song about a star, one that was hauntingly familiar. Lalna could have sworn he'd heard it before, could've sworn he had heard that same girl's voice sing it. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to reach for the memory, but it disappeared in the purple fog he was met with.  
Somewhere along the way, the song and the screams had met, and they sang a pretty song for Lalna, a sweet song he loved so very much.  
When Mother returned, Lalna embraced her with open arms, and the noise vanished in an instant.  
The blond opened his eyes, feeling warm arms embrace him, expecting to see Nano there, smiling, welcoming him to the new day, but he was met with shattered stone and desolate rubble.  
Instead, Mother stood there, still just a misty purple shape. She smiled at him, welcoming her beloved son home.  
 _No,_ Lalna thought fiercely, _that's not right. I'm no son of hers._  
"Of course you are, Lalnable, love," she chided him gently. "Come here, and we shall make a new home."  
He almost stepped forward. His arms twitched, urging him to go on, to embrace her. His legs seemed about to drag him to her of their own will.  
But he stood still, and faced her.  
"Who are you?" Lalna asked accusingly.  
"I'm your Mother, darling," she said innocently. "Come, Lalnable, let's play together, like we used to."  
"My name isn't Lalnable," he spat out the words. "I'm Lalna."  
"It is now," she said simply, "but who could say that about the future?"  
"I like now," he replied bluntly.  
"Do you really?" She crooned. "With you and your poor apprentice both writhing under my touch? Helpless at my feet, succumbing to any desire I have, any desire I want you to have?"  
Again, Lalna's body tried to move against his will. His thoughts like iron, he resisted the whispers of a song sliding back into his head.  
"You can't do anything to me, you witch," he spat.  
The figure laughed outright at this. "Oh, but I've brought you here. I've lured your soul from your body, coaxed it out of that weak vessel. I do the same to her, you know."  
Jaw tightening, Lalna said nothing.  
"You can still feel her hugging you, can't you?" She smiled. "She's crying over you now. I could have her kill you if I wanted, have her trap your soul here."  
"We're not weak enough to let you play god," he snarled, his hands curling into fists at the thought of Nano waking with his blood on her hands.  
"Show me," she said with a condescending smile. "Show me your power, and go home."  
Turning on his heel, Lalna strode away from the wasteland she'd brought him too. It was his old home, and though the walk was long, he could get home, back to his body, back to Nano.

Nano hugged Lalna tighter, curled up on their cold marble floor. He was too heavy to lift, so she'd stayed with him, slumped on the ground.  
Something rolled off the table and fell to the floor not far away. She glanced up sharply, almost expecting to see Mother perched there, but the room was empty except for herself and the motionless blond curled next to her.  
Reaching out for what had made the sound, her hand closed around a small globe. She brought it close to her chest, and opened her hand. It was on of Lalna's most recent prides, a telekinetic spell.  
Fumbling for the wand in her belt, she shakily connected the two, the pink orb lighting up with the saturation of the raw Vis. Pointing it at Lalna and apologizing for the way the wand shook in her grip, she lifted him into the air.  
The trip up the stairs was certaintly awkward, and she apologized against after hitting his head on the ceiling a few more times. Laughingly she said she was glad he was like this because he'd kill her if he wasn't, but it took more effort than she'd expected to stop herself from crying again.  
Lalna sank onto the bed awkwardly, nearly falling off. Nano dropped the wand and ran to support him, helping his limp form back up.  
That done, she curled up next to him, grateful for the warmth of the fire jets overhead, and slept.  
When she woke up the next morning, the first thing she did was shake him violently. He was lifeless in her grip, but still breathing, much to her relief. Fighting back tears, she reluctantly got up, knowing she'd have to eat if she wanted to keep them both alive.  
Briefly she wondered if it was necessary to feed Lalna, but decided Mother wouldn't let him die. They were precious vessels, both of them; of everyone, they were the only ones that had been able to serve as appropriate sacrifices for her.  
As time wore on, Nano found herself wondering if Lalna would return. She knew her odd flux-fits had been getting longer, but not as bad as this. Now, when she hugged him, he seemed so ragged, so thin. She could feel his ribs through his old lab coat, and his cheekbones were more prominent than they'd ever been.  
After what was most likely a month, Nano finally forced herself up and outside, squinting in the blaringly bright sunlight.  
She half-thought she saw him watching her from the doorway, but when she turned to look, the doorway was empty. Shaking her head, she shielded her eyes and studied their overgrown garden. A second set of footsteps matched hers when she headed towards the mandrake patch, but again, she was alone when she spun around to look.  
With sudden realization, she slid her goggles down over her eyes, viewing the path before her home. A slight shimmer in the air drew her gaze, and four elements hovered before her eyes as she stared at it.  
Potentia, sensus, humanus, tempus.  
The four components it showed when she looked at Lalna.  
A sob rising in her throat, she reached forward for the blur, his figure coming into focus for only a split second as tears blurred her vision.  
"Lalna…" Her legs gave way under her as she crumpled, her goggles falling to the ground. "Lalna, I miss you…"  
Hopelessly she told him, "You're upstairs. Your body, I mean. I can't wake you up." She let out a short, humorless laugh. "But I guess you already know that."  
A ghost of the touch of a warm hand brushed against her cheek. She tried to close her hand over it, tried to hold some part of him close, but she couldn't feel anything, just the air swirling between her empty fingers.  
"Look at us, Lalna," she whispered softly, for his ears only. "A crying half-fluxed girl and a disembodied soul with an empty body sitting in our house. What can we do against Mother?"  
Maybe he offered some assurance, maybe he shrugged, maybe he chided her for giving up.  
Nano couldn't hear him anymore.


End file.
